April 4, 2018

Faculty Affiliate Marianne Bitler has been appointed Chair of a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Panel to improve consumer data on food and nutrition policy research for the Economic Research Service, USDA.

An ad hoc panel will review the Consumer Data and Nutrition Research (CDNR) program for the Economic Research Service (ERS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The CDNR (originally the Consumer Data and Information Program) includes several components, such as supplements to existing federal surveys, use of relevant administrative and commercial data, linkages of databases, and the Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS). The expert panel will critically assess the value of each of the various ERS investments in food and nutrition data and provide directions for the next 10 years of the CDNR. As part of its information-gathering activities, the panel will conduct a workshop to discuss the views of data users and survey experts. The panel will produce a consensus report with conclusions and recommendations about the future of the CDNR, and a rapporteur-authored proceedings of the workshop also will be prepared.